The subject of the invention is a ball joint for motor vehicles having a bearing shell arranged between a joint housing and a ball head, which shell is provided on one end side with elastically deformable elevations projecting from a stop surface.
From German Pat. No. 1,953,116 there is known a ball joint with a one-part joint shell which has, on an end surface, spaced apart from each other, tiny nibs or cam-like elevations having a height exceeding slightly the production tolerances of the joint, which are deformable by the clamping force of the end surface against a shoulder surface of the joint housing. These known elevations are for the purpose of compensating for the production tolerances of the joint parts, to prevent different motion of the ball joint.
From German Pat. No. 1,098,381, there is known a ball joint with a bearing shell which is corrugated at its end surface facing the joint housing. This corrugation is also intended to compensate for production tolerances of the joint parts, in order to prevent different motion of the ball joint.
Finally, from German Disclosure No. 1,932,520, there is known still another ball joint with a bearing shell which is provided, on its end surface facing the joint housing, with projections in the form of ring segments or cylindrical additions, to prevent a reduction of the preload upon wear, and at the same time to mitigate the influence of production tolerances.
Starting from this, the invention attacks the problem of designing the elevation, already known in the form of nibs, corrugations, ring segments or cylindrical additions, so that by an elastic deformation production tolerances of the joint parts can be compensated for, during assembly of the joint and at the same time as uniform as possible a bearing pressure and a definite tilting moment or moment of rotation can be set, without completely deforming the elevations plastically and removing their elasticity.